I. The essence of Qi breathing.

1. Avenues. Mainly they are mouth, nose, pores and acupuncture points. General speaking, breathing avenues normally refer to mouth and nose.
   1) Mouth: Mainly connects to Earth Yin Qi; it is effective in activating Conception Meridian functions. Also it is effective in concentrating saliva and changing it into Jing. Mouth breathing normally accompanies with tongue movements; depends on the purpose, the tongue can be either touch the upper palate or lower palate. The tongues touches upper palate can connect the Governor and the Conception Meridians.
   2) Nose: Mainly connects Heaven Yang Qi; it is effective in activating Governor Meridian functions. It is further divided to left and right nostrils. Left nostril connects to Yin, it has calming effects; it is best for day time practice. Right nostril connect to Yang, it has activating Yang Qi effects; it is best for night time practice. One can strengthen the body just by using this breathing method alone; it is a very good Qigong method by itself. There are many alternating nostril methods in Tibetan Qigong, but it is not that common in Traditional Qigong.
   The practice of mouth and/or nose breathing can be divided into 4 types.
   a) Nose inhaling, nose exhaling. This is the most common methods in all Qigong.
   b) Mouth inhaling, mouth exhaling. This method is good for people who is weak, with Yang Qi depletion and have difficulty to concentrate.
   If the practice involves a lot of physical movements, then one will use both a and b.
   c) Nose inhaling, mouth exhaling. This method connects the Governor and Conception Meridians, lots of Circulating Orbit Methods use this type of breathing. This is also a preferred breathing method in Sound Moving Qi Methods.
   d) Mouth inhaling, nose exhaling. Most Eating Qi Methods us this type of breathing. Many practitioners with Yin deficiency and weak Qi flow in Conception Meridian use this type of breathing to balance the Governor and Conception Meridians.
   3) Pores and Acupuncture points: Most practitioners will not be able to use this kind of breathing at the beginning, they will have to use mind intent to help to absorb the Nature Qi into the body. When inhaling, mind intent induces the external Qi inward; when exhaling, release Qi outward. Normally, the pressure points one uses are Baihui (GV20), Shanzhong (CV17), Huiyin, Mingmen, Laogong and Yongquan, etc. One should not use too many points at the beginning; otherwise, it is very difficult to manage.
2. Depth.
   When select a breathing method, one must coordinate with the breathing depth. Qigong practice requires full breath. Full breath means when inhale, the abdomen expends, diaphragm move downward, bottom of the lungs expands, the chest opens up, the lungs open and expand to create the space for maximum intake. At the beginning, it is very difficult to maintain consistent full breath; one should not force the issue. When exhaling, body leans forward slightly, shoulders arc forward as if hugging someone, abdomen is concave to the maximum. In order to have full breath, one must have full inhalation and full exhalation.
   In Qigong, full breath requires deep (breathing depth), fine (the in and out air flow), even (the speed of the air flow) and long (the length of each breath).
3. The stoppage.
   There is a stoppage between each inhaling and exhaling; also, there is a stoppage after each exhaling and before inhaling. For example:
   Inhale—stop—exhale—stop—inhale
   By extending the time of a particular stoppage one can change the body functions. The purpose of the stoppage is to strengthen Shen’s stability.
4. Degrees of Strength.
   One can change the Qi functions in the body by increasing the strength of either the inhaling or the exhaling. General speaking, strengthen the inhaling can increase the Qi functions’ absorbing inward abilities; strengthen the exhaling can increase the Qi functions’ releasing outward abilities. The Qi functions refer to the movements and changes created by merging the consciousness and Qi.
5. Intakes.
   Breath is not only breathing in the oxygen and breathing out the carbon dioxide; more important, it breathes in the Primal Qi in the air into the body. Combining the breathing with mind intent, one can increase the absorption of Primal Qi.

These are the five essences of breathing in Qigong; they are the roots of all Qigong Breathing Methods.

The next step is to listen to the heart beats. Once one can hear the heart beats, one should let go of the listening and progress to use the mind to follow and observe the heart’s contracting and relaxing. Since the heart is connected to the blood vessels, up to a certain point, one will be able to observe the pulse inside the blood vessels.

When the breathing becomes steadier and more even, and the breathing sound becomes so low that it cannot be heard, the next step is to progress to use the consciousness to observe and listen. This is called “when the ears are not able to hear, listen with consciousness.” When the consciousness is no longer able to hear, one will use Qi to listen. Up to a certain point, the breathing, consciousness and Qi will merge as one, and man and nature become one.

It is an “advance” and simple (but not easy) method, all one has to do is to concentrate and listen. Starting with ears, then consciousness and finally Qi, step by step, it will lead the practitioner to merge with nature.

*The ears can only hear a certain range of vibrating frequency, a slow and deep breathing vibrates very little and it frequency is out of the ears’ range.

Besides exchanging air (mainly oxygen and carbon dioxide) with nature, human use breathing to connects and exchange information with millions of things in the universe. This called “inhale and exhale with Heaven and Earth.” If one can concentrate on the stoppage between the inhale and exhale, one can easily absorb the nature/universe Qi.

There are over a hundred kinds of breathing methods. The most common ones are:

1. Throat Breathing. The practitioner uses the throat’s contraction and retraction to breathe; normally, during the inhaling and exhaling, practitioner would add sound to strengthen the Qi function. It is a very special breathing technique and it is common in “Eating Qi” method. When “Eating Qi,” the practitioner would use the mouth to inhale and say the syllables “Hē er 喝兒” during inhaling; exhale through the nose, some methods use natural exhaling, some would say the syllables “Hē er 喝兒” during exhaling.
2. Lung Breathing. The practitioner uses the thorax’s contraction and expansion to breathe; it is also called Chest Breathing. When the thorax expanses, it will create negative pressure inside the cavity and allow the air to enter the lungs. If the breath is shallow and the air only enter the upper part of lungs, it is called “Shoulder Breathing;” if the air enters the full lungs, it is called ”Full Breathing.” Although the breathing is following the natural rhythm of the practitioner, the goal is to slow down the breath’s frequency and becomes soft, smooth and natural. Practicing this type of Breathing Method can strengthen Qi’s Up and Down functions in the body. When inhale, Qi would move up, when exhale, Qi would move down.
3. Abdominal Breathing. The breathing is done by contracting the diaphragm. It can be divided into two categories.

• Natural Breathing. Most practitioners use the combination of chest and abdomen; the movements of the chest and abdomen are very obvious, sometimes it is called “whole breathing.” When inhaling, the diaphragm moves downward and the abdomen expanses outward; when exhaling, the diaphragm moves upward and the abdomen contracts inward. It is normal breathing pattern for most people, so it is called “Natural Breathing.” It does not only increase the lung capacities, it also massages the inner organs. With the diaphragm moving up and down, it will activate and strengthen the zhōng gōng 中宮 functions (zhōng gōng is the area between Middle and Lower Dantian). Most Qigong use this breathing method.
• Reverse Breathing. When inhaling, the diaphragm moves downward and the abdomen contracts inward; when exhaling, the diaphragm moves upward and the abdomen relaxes outward. One must have a good foundation in Natural Breathing before he can progress to the Reverse Breathing. The purpose for the Reverse Breathing is to increase the pressure in the abdominal area, so Qi will be concentrated and become stronger in the Lower Dantian. In Reverse Breathing, when exhale, the Postnatal Qi moves down to Dantian area; when inhale, the abdomen contracts, Huiyin moves upward, Prenatal Qi will move upward and merges with Postnatal Qi.

4. Fetus Breathing. Like a fetus, one breathes through the navel. Sometimes it is called Navel Breathing. It is an advanced breathing technique. Practitioners visualize the air is in and out of the navel, and it feels like one no longer breathes through the nose and mouth. The mind intent is focused on the navel’s “open and close” movements, not the physical breath. When inhale, the navel closes (has a contracting feeling), when exhale, the navel open (has an expending feeling). But if the mind intent is aware of the physical breathing (Lungs or Abdominal), it is no longer Fetus Breathing.
5. Skin Breathing. When one cultivates breathing to a point that he is no longer aware of the breathing and/or the movements of the breath (air), he uses mind intent to breathe through skin and pores (skin and pores’ open, close, in and out movements), it is called Skin Breathing. Inhale, (it is a feeling) air permeates into the center of the body through the skin and pores; exhale, air leaves the center of the body through skin and pores. Lungs’ functions are existing yet not existing. In the beginning, it is the skin and pores’ open, close, in and out movements, gradually, one and nature merge as one. At that point, the center of the body is the center of the universe; when one inhales, the Heaven and Earth inhale, when one exhales, the Heaven and Earth exhale.
6. Yin and Yang Breathing. Some Qigong consider nose connects with Heaven Qi, mouth connects with Earth Qi. Right nostril connects with Heaven’s Yang Qi, left nostril connects with Heaven’s Yin Qi. A day is divided into 12 periods, 6 Yang and 6 Yin. The practitioner balances the body’s Yin and Yang by working on the right side during the Yang period, left side during the Yin period.

One of the methods in Fú jiā mìzōng 佛家密宗 (Tantric Buddhism) is to alternate right and left nostril during the breathing. According to them, there is a tube that circulates Zhen Qi inside the Central Meridian. The right side of the tube is red and connects to Yang Qi, the left side of the tube is yellow and connects to Yin Qi. This tube (right and left) connects with the nostrils. When inhale from right nostril and exhale from left nostril (Yang in and Yin out), and vice versa, one can balance the Yin and Yang. The method is as follow:

Begins with right hand, right thumb touches the right nostril, index finger touches the top of nose bridge (slightly below Yintang), middle and ring fingers touch left nostril. Inhale, close the right nostril with the thumb and breathe in from the left nostril. Exhale, close the left nostril and breathe out from the right nostril; repeat 24 or 36 times. Change hands and do the same with left hand.

Most Qigong breathing is slow, long and soundless. In order to increase the volume of air in and out of the lungs, some Qigong such as Guo Lin Qigong (郭林氣功) use “Wind Breathing.” The breath is very strong and accompany with breathing sound. Some Qigong use “Odd Number Breathing” to increase the oxygen intake. Instead of one inhale and one exhale, they use two inhales and one exhale or four inhales and three exhales, etc.

No matter what type of Qigong one practice, all movements and postures are under the direction and commend of the mind activities. Also trainings on movements and breathing patterns follow the mind’s directions.

Although each Qigong method has its unique mind activities, they all focus on concentration at the beginning stage. There are a few steps in the concentration process.

1. Withdraw the scattered mind. In a non Qigong state, one’s mind scatters all over the places. By focusing on one point or one area of body such as Dantian, Mingmen, etc, one withdraws the scattered mind and stay within the point/body.
2. Stop the distracting thoughts. When one cannot stay focusing and has lots of distracting thoughts, next step is to stop the train of thoughts and gradually bring the attention back to the focus point.
3. Relax the mind. Do not get annoyed or impatient when you are not able to concentrate. It takes a lot of practice before one can stop the distracting thoughts.
4. Mellow the mind intent. The mind intent (focusing) cannot be too intensive. It should be focusing yet not focusing, mind intent is there yet not there, has and has not.

One of the goals of Qigong training is to concentrate Qi in a particular area (it can be a point/area of the body or something in the nature) or to move Qi in a certain way/route. It is performed under the direction/control of the mind. If one cannot concentrate, “Concentrating Qi” and “Circulating Qi” are empty words.

The most common concentration methods are:

1. Focusing method. The mind focuses on one point or an area. It can be internal or external. The most common focusing points are:

• Dantian is not a point; it is an area (three dimensions). There are three Dantians in the body – Upper, Middle and Lower Dantian. The locations of the Dantians are not the same in all Qigong, but most agree Upper Dantian is located at the center of the head, Middle Dantian is located at the Center of the Chest and Lower Dantian is located at the abdomen (slightly below the naval). Besides the three Dantians, some Qigong add Front Dantian (naval area) and Back Dantian (Mingmen) to form five Dantians. Ming (physical body) Gong normally focuses on Lower Dantian, Xing (Mind) Gong focuses on the Upper Dantian.
• Yǒng quán湧泉(KD 1). Kidneys storage the Prenatal Jing (Qi), focusing on these points can nourish the Prenatal Jing, strengthen the Yuan Yang and increase the vitalities.
• Zú sānlǐ 足三里 (ST 36). Stomach is main source of Shuǐgǔ Qi (Shuǐ means water and gǔ means grain, together it means food), focus on Zú sānlǐ can strengthen the digestive system.
• Nature scenery. Beautiful scenery can improve metal clarity.
• Combining External and Internal. One of the most popular methods is Chán guān (禪觀), a Buddhism Qigong technique. The practitioner focuses on an external image first, then brings the image in and merges it with internal body. For example, one focuses on a waterfall, watches the water rushing downward; then brings the waterfall inside the body, visualizing the water rushing down from the top of the head, going through every part of the body and washing out all the impurities.  Or one can focus on the blue sky (the invisible Qi) , and then gradually bring the blue sky into the body, feel  the Qi permeate and nourish the skin, muscles, bones, etc. (This is called Kōng lán lái lǐ 空藍來裡 in Traditional Qigong)

2. Relaxation Methods.

All relaxation methods require concentration and vise versa.

3. Counting the breath. One breath consists of one inhale, one exhale and the stoppage in between. Depends on the method, some count the whole breath, some count just inhale, exhale or the stoppage in between; the common practice is to count from 1 to 10, then repeat.
4. At the beginning stage, practitioners can verbally pronounce the Mantra. In a more advanced stage, the Mantra should repeat soundlessly. Instead of Mantra, some practitioners use affirmation. The length of affirmation should be between 3 and 9 syllables. For example, Zhineng Qigong uses the affirmation Hùn Yuán Ling Tōng (混元靈通). Hùn Yuán means primal Qi (before Yin and Yang), Ling means efficacious, Tōng means unobstructed. As a whole, it means once the primal Qi can permeate the body without obstructions, one can achieve whatever one wants to accomplish.